Monday, April 19, 2010

I’m not sure if the students of the University of Calgary have ever been to Bermuda but judging by their outfits last week I’m guessing no. The Calgary Herald reported that Friday was Bermuda Shorts Day—the last day of classes when students wear funny costumes and drink large quantities of alcohol. According to campus lore, it was 50 years ago when the editor of the university’s newspaper proclaimed that he’d mark the last day of classes by wearing the most flashy Bermuda shorts he could find and challenged other students to follow his lead. Nearly 100 others donned shorts of their own and from that day on Bermuda Shorts Day became a beloved U of C tradition. But somewhere along the line wearing funny shorts on the last day of classes morphed into an annual daylong booze-fest, when thousands of costumed students fill a 4,400 capacity open-air beer garden and basically, get wasted. “There’s nothing better than BSD,” says an anonymous commenter about the drunken bacchanalia. “It was the highlight of my undergrad, especially when compared to buying books and registering for classes.” Is it just me or is your mind NOT blown by this? College kids who prefer binge drinking over going to class? Shocker. But Bermuda Shorts Day? How about Grass Skirt Day? Or Funny Hat Day? Or I'm-Gonna-Drink-Till-I-Drop Day? For Bermuda's sake I propose an official rename—got any suggestions? Lemme hear it!

No comments:

Post a Comment

about the author

is a Bermuda-based travel writer and television correspondent. To read his work visit DavidLaHuta.com or to follow him on Twitter visit Twitter.com/DavidLaHuta. Visiting Bermuda? Read his story, 36 Hours in Bermuda, which appeared in the New York Times travel section in September 2009 (http://bit.ly/36HoursBermuda) and Jetsetter's The Many Faces of Bermuda, which ran in January 2011 (http://bit.ly/FacesOfBDA).